Tag: Poetry

city memories: taste

‘Taste’ is this week’s City Sidewalk theme for Kathy Munro’s A Sense of Place in Troutswirl. To write haiku on this theme I accessed memories of my early days working in Toronto.

Stopping for coffee and a muffin was once a routine on the way to work. I can still see the small counter and remember waiting in line:

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morning glory

muffin at corner stand

before work

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One summer I took a job as a law clerk. This haiku is included in today’s A Sense of Place:

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law clerk dash

papers served

at lunch hour

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At the end of a workday downtown I needed an energy boost:

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going home

sesame snaps

at Union Station

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©️2018 Ontheland

winter mountains: haiku

old snow mountains

shrinking in a city lot

last week’s plow

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Kingston’s snow mountains have been shrinking since their formation. I was happy yesterday to capture a photo (as I feared they may have melted). This is my response to this week’s Haikai Challenge. The kigo, “winter mountain”, originates from Japan’s snowy peaks, natural wonders that offer a feeling different from these urban heaps.

©️2018 Ontheland

Sounds of Princess Street: haiku and senryu

Last Thursday (November 29) I posted ‘A stroll down Princess Street’, a haibun. I have since gone into town (Kingston) for a second walk, this time tuning into street sounds. Here are a few of the haiku/senryu that I wrote. My final one-line haiku appears in Troutswirl’s A Sense of Place on December 5, 2018 (written and edited by KJ Munro).

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in cold twilight

street lamps ignite

trumpets in my mind

:

above sidewalk ice

an evening interlude

St. Andrew’s chimes

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“Can you spare change?”

the man in the doorway,

his oxygen tubes.

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gushing water

a boy hoses down the rink

at Market Square

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on a quiet stretch

a sewer grate clinks

I aim for the next one

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a pigeon lingers at the chirping crosswalk*

*some crosswalk signals emit chirping sounds for visually impaired people. This style is being phased out due to reports of birds imitating the chirps and confusing pedestrians.

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©️2018 Ontheland